1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device registration technology in so-called digital electric appliances such as televisions or recorders connected via a network.
2. Background Art
Recently, in a general household, an IP (Internet Protocol) network is widely spread, and televisions, recorders, and other electric appliances connectable to the IP network are sold and distributed widely.
The user can has an enhanced convenience by connecting these electric appliances to the IP network. For example, patent documents 1 and 2 disclose a technology in which a television and a recorder are connected via the IP network so that an image of GUI (graphical user interface) of the recorder can be displayed on the television via the IP network, or the contents stored in the recorder can be viewed on the television.
Hereinafter, the recorder or other device for presenting information such as contents and GUI is called a “server,” and the television or other device for acquiring information from the server is collectively called a “client.”
Generally, the server has a function to register preliminarily clients that are permitted to access the information stored in the server, and to refuse access from non-registered clients.
Referring now to FIG. 9, the registration procedure of client access permission in a conventional server is described. The operation of the user is explained below in a case where the user attempts to connect a client 850 to a server 800 with the client 850 not registered in the server 800.
According to the user's operation, the client 850 sends a connection request to the server 800 (S81). The server 800, receiving the connection request, sends a connection refusal to the client 850 because the client 850 is not registered (S82). At the same time, the server 800 displays a registration screen for registering the client 850, on the screen of the server 800 (S83).
The user moves from a position at which the client 850 is located to a position at which the server is located, and executes a registration operation on the registration screen displayed on the server 800. This operation allows the client 850 to be registered in the server 800 (S84). Then, the user returns to the position at which the client 850 is located.
When the user attempts again to connect the client 850 to the server 800 from the client 850 in a state where the client 850 is completely registered in the server 800, the client 850 sends a connection request to the server 800 again (S85). At this time, since the client 850 has been already registered, the server 800 sends back a connection permission to the client 850 in response to the connection request from the client 850 (S86). By this procedure, the client 850 is allowed to use, that is, access the information stored in the server 800.